WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: The Mirror War #1, available now from IDW.
Star Trek: The Next Generation television series may have ended in 1994 but it remains a hugely popular part of the Star Trek fandom. In IDW's new Star Trek: The Mirror War comic series, readers are able to beam back aboard USS Enterprise-D with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew. This 2021 comic book series extends the look at a clash between the characters of Next Generation and their Mirror Universe -- parallel and usually evil -- versions of themselves, which is something fans never got to see play out on the television show.
The new series is a continuation of events that took place in IDW's 2017 six-issue series, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken. Mirror War #1, by Scott & David Tipton, Gavin Smith, Charlie Kirchoff and Neil Uyetake, picked up with Lt. Reginald Barclay of the Mirror Universe returning to the alternative ISS Enterprise-D. More of the "evil twin" versions of the Next Generation crew were seen in this issue, including a surprise appearance genius Dr. Leah Brahms.
Dr. Brahms was first introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation in a season three episode called "Booby Trap." This episode found the Enterprise stuck in an energy trap trying to escape while the ship was slowly being drained of all power. Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge searched the ship's records for a way out of the booby trap. In the data files, he found information on Dr. Brahms, who was the designer and engineer of the warp drives on the Enterprise. Using the files, the computer created a holodeck version of Dr. Brahms to hash out the issues with the warp drive. During their intense research and discussions, while under an extreme time crunch to save the ship, La Forge and holodeck Dr. Brahms share a kiss. La Forge figured out they needed to outsmart technology and adjust the warp drive to get out of the trap. He also realized that maybe he should turn off the holodeck program for Dr. Brahms, even though he felt a kinship with her.
The holodeck based Dr. Brahms on all of the information about her it had access to, trying to create the most realistic version possible. However, in season four's episode "Galaxy's Child," La Forge found that the holodeck is not great at re-creating sentient personalities. The real Dr. Brahms came aboard the ship to examine the alterations La Forge had made to her warp engines. La Forge, a fan of Dr. Brahms and hopeful for at least a friendship based on the holodeck encounter, greeted her with excitement on behalf of the crew. The real Dr. Brahms was not as warm and jovial as her computer-created counterpart. La Forge's alterations to the engines upset and dismayed her. He tried to jog her memory of why he made certain alterations before remembering his interactions were not really with her. Although La Forge tried to smooth things over and create a positive working relationship, Dr. Brahms stumbled across her holodeck self and thought La Forge had been unprofessional with a replica of her. Through the episode, the two end up working together to solve another power-related problem and form an actual friendship with each other.
The Mirror War created a different story for Dr. Brahms. In the first issue, she was still a doctor but she was now a member of the Mirror Enterprise engineering crew. Yet even in this universe, she has a tie to La Forge. When La Forge gave an important engineering job to Chief O'Brien, Dr. Brahms was upset with him. She insisted to La Forge that she could have used the opportunity to impress the Captain. It is revealed that this version of Dr. Brahms has a habit of being "unreliable and irresponsible" while possibly having a drinking problem. Because Dr. Brahms is part of the crew, she may not have been the one to engineer the warp drives, alluding to doubt that the Enterprise ships are evenly matched. It also sets the scene for Dr. Brahms to be an underdog hero for the Mirror Universe, a source of untapped potential that could help them in the coming war. Or she could sabotage them for treating her unfairly. Either way, Dr. Brahms may be an overlooked character in the Next Generation but she is one to watch in The Mirror War.